33 weeks and counting...

So I'm in the home stretch (not to be confused with stretch marks, which, thanks to the luxurious Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter my awesome sister gave me, have been kept at bay) of my pregnancy! Thank god. Because things are getting uncomfortable.

Oh, it's all normal. I had an appt. with my doc yesterday and she said that the discomfort, shortness of breath, fatigue, and puffiness are all within the scope of an otherwise healthy pregnancy. My belly is sticking out so far now, I can no longer walk without looking like an idiot. I have to waddle like a duck. It's no joke (though I'm sure I look funny). It's just impossible to walk normally and maintain a good sense of balance when your center of gravity is so weird with the baby weight so high up in your belly. And slow...I'm sooo slow these days. That's frustrating, but I keep reminding myself that I have to take it easy.

I blew through my latest James Patterson thriller, which was great (The Fifth Horseman), and have started a delightful - and entirely appropriate! - quality chick-lit romp called Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner. It's a sort of "Sex & The City"-esque portrayal of 4 women living in Philadelphia; except that all 4 women are all married and in the last trimesters of their pregnancies! The timing of my reading this couldn't be more perfect - the stories of their backgrounds, deliveries, prenatal yoga, the challenges of taking care of a newborn, and hilarious stories of the mother in law from hell (who buys her new granddaughter a sequined tank top that says "Hottie"!! Eeew!) etc. are so engrossing and I am just eating it up. I adore this author; she is one of my favorites!

Speaking of entertainment, did any of you see the Bionic Woman this week on NBC? Man, that show is phenomenal!

The baby is doing very well and so am I, despite the routine discomforts. My blood pressure is still normal - 122/74 - for which I am eternally grateful (thanks, mom, for the good genes!). And the baby, bless his sweet little heart, still kicks and nudges and flutters often. He's started to do these somersaults that make me feel like I have a chicken rotisserie going on in my stomach. It's truly a bizarre sensation. Yesterday the doctor said his growth rate, heartbeat, and movements all sound perfectly healthy and normal, and that's what really matters.

I'll close this post with a hilarious story of recently going through airport security. I had my horn with me, of course, and it was going through the conveyor belt to get checked out. I always watch the airport staff when this is going on. This guy stops the conveyor, squints his eyes, backs up the conveyer belt again and stops it again, and looks more closely at the monitor. He looks over to his colleague, and says, "hey John, c'mere." John walks over. The guy points at the monitor. "What the hell is that?"

At which point I lose it laughing. John looks at me and asks, "is it a trumpet?" I am impressed that he even knows that it's a musical instrument and tell him it's a french horn. (It's really just called a horn in the orchestral world but most people don't know that, so you have to say "french" to make sure they know which horn specifically.) The guy behind me in line is cracking up and gives me the thumbs up and with a huge smile on his face, says, "Awesome!"

Anyway, I hope this blog post finds you all happy and healthy and enjoying a gorgeous fall day. The weather here is chilly but sunny, and the leaves are still gorgeous shades of gingery-turmeric gold and other shades of wine, burgundy, and tangerine. Just beautiful. Write back and tell me what you have planned for the weekend!